


Of The Stars

by quarterleigh



Series: Bingo Fest [1]
Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-26
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-18 00:55:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16107392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quarterleigh/pseuds/quarterleigh
Summary: "The words that glow on Phil’s chest are gibberish. They aren't in his language; they aren’t in any language he has ever come across, from his planet or elsewhere."Phil is an alien who desperately wants to meet his soulmate.





	Of The Stars

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the phandomficfests bingo fest! This is knocking two squares off of my card- abduction and soulmate identifying marks.

 The words that glow on Phil’s chest are gibberish. They aren't in his language; they aren’t in any language he has ever come across, from his planet or elsewhere. He hesitates to even call them words, though he knows they must be. They’re just a cluster of symbols he can’t recognize. 

 

As a child, he had never wondered what the symbols meant. They were just another part of his body, like the raised bumps that swirl in different patterns on everyone’s shoulders. He knew the symbols were his soulmark, and that one day he would meet someone who would somehow say those symbols out loud to him, but he wasn’t particularly bothered by not knowing what the words meant, or what type of person would be saying them. It wasn’t unheard of. His own brother Martyn’s soulmark is in a language from another planet, a nearby ice giant where the people have translucent skin and can’t survive in temperatures above freezing. 

 

 But today is Phil’s thirtieth birthday and he’s beginning to get a little concerned.

“I know they’re not in our solar system. I’ve checked every single language there is. Twice. Who knows how far away they are? Maybe I’ll never meet them,” he grumbles over breakfast. 

 

 “And a very happy birthday to you,” Martyn jokes. Phil puts his head in his hands and groans. 

 

 “I’m sorry. You and Cornelia traveled all that way to be here for my birthday and I’m just… miserable.” 

 

 “Phil, honestly,” Martyn claps a hand down on his shoulder, giving a small squeeze of comfort, “If you were never going to meet them, you wouldn’t have a mark. That’s how it works. It’ll happen.” 

 

 “I know that, I’m just…”

 

 “Ready?”

 

 “Yeah. I’m really, really ready.” 

 

.

 

 They spend the morning showing Cornelia around their hometown. She has to wear a ridiculous looking suit to keep her body temperature down, and the brothers can’t help but laugh at her awkwardly flailing around in it. “Don’t make fun of me! Everything weighs so little here, I don’t know how to move in this!”

 

“Well now you understand why I fell flat on my face the first time I stepped off the spacecraft onto your planet,” Martyn says, smiling wide. 

 

 “Oh, that’s disappointing. I always assumed it was because that was when you saw my gorgeous face for the first time.” 

 

 “Sorry to interrupt the flirting,” Phil interjects, “But I think it was most likely possibility number three- Martyn’s just clumsy.” 

 

 “ _ I’m  _ clumsy?  _ Me?!”  _ Martyn squawks indignantly. 

 

 “You are,” Cornelia says. “You both are. It’s embarrassing.” 

 

 “ _ You’re _ embarrassing,” Martyn huffs, gesturing at his wife, who is walking slowly towards a cluster of starflower plants with her arms stretched out parallel to the ground for balance. 

 

 “These are so beautiful,” she says, ignoring him. “I knew there would be lots of bioluminescence on this planet, but I wasn’t prepared. All the colors! I wish I could touch these without this suit on.” She runs her gloved hand over the tips of the flowers that glow purple, pink and yellow. 

 

 Because of the planet’s distance from its sun, it is very dim during the day, and completely dark at night. As a result, most of its creatures have evolved over time to emit their own light, usually in the form of a pleasant, brightly colored glow. Most members of Phil’s species glow in at least one of four different places; Phil glows in all four. He has three bright blue circles above each eyebrow, a thin green line just under each cheekbone, a white triangle on each wrist and of course, his purple soulmark. He knows that one day, like Martyn, he will meet his soulmate and that purple glow will fade, because he will no longer need it. It’s there to guide, just like the spots above his eyebrows that have only become brighter as he ages and his vision gets worse. 

 

 “Here,” Martyn plucks a pink flower from the plant and tucks it into the fold of Cornelia’s pocket. “It’ll keep until we get home.” Phil watches her grin up at his brother and knows that if it weren’t for the helmet, she’d be kissing him. He wonders if his own soulmate would learn his language and give up their own comfort to be with him, the way Martyn and Cornelia have done for each other. He really hopes so. He would do it for them. 

 

 “I’m going to head over to see PJ for a while,” Phil says, wanting to leave the couple alone for all of their sakes. 

 

 “Should we come?” Martyn asks. 

 

 “No, he just said he had something for my birthday, it shouldn’t take too long.” 

 

 “Okay, love” Cornelia says. “We’ll meet at your parents for dinner?” He nods in agreement and sets off to see his friend. 

 

.

 

 PJ likes to call himself an explorer. His actual title is ‘foreign galaxy researcher’, though he’s never actually left their own solar system. He leads expeditions from his lab, directing other team members on where to go and what things to take from other planets so he can study them and send them back to their own planets unharmed. He had directed Martyn on the mission that took him to Cornelia’s planet. 

 

 “Birthday boy!” PJ greets him with a hug. He’s in his lab gear, goggles obscuring most of his face, and Phil wouldn’t have recognized him if not for the glowing soulmark on his neck. Well, perhaps the hair would have tipped him off either way- PJ has truly ridiculous hair. 

 

 “Peej! Got anything interesting in there?” Phil nods to the lab door. 

 

“Do I ever! An intelligent life form. Unconscious, but remarkably similar to our own genetic makeup. Their skin is a little smoother and they have no luminescence or soulmarks, but otherwise they could pass as one of us. I’m hoping they come into consciousness soon, I’m eager to see if we can communicate.” 

 

 “Where are they from?” Phil is genuinely interested. PJ is always up to something fascinating. He had single handedly saved their planet from war a few years prior when he was the only one able to communicate with a hostile species from another solar system. 

 

 “A tiny planet in a tiny solar system in a galaxy about two months eastwards by our fastest spacecraft. Lots of life on that one planet, but nowhere else in the solar system.” 

 

 “Did you get anything else?” Phil asks. 

 

 “A few plants, some domesticated creatures,” PJ shrugs. “Nothing else like this, though. They’re so similar to us, Phil, more than any species I’ve ever studied.” 

 

 “Can I see?” He knows the answer is no. The answer is always no, for good reason. He’s not trained, he hasn’t been given clearance. But he has to ask. PJ is excited, more so than Phil has ever seen him, and that means this is a big deal. 

 

 “Well, no,” PJ says, “I can’t  _ let _ you see.” 

 

 “I know,” Phil says, “But I had to ask.”

 

 “Right, but I’m going to go get your birthday present from my things. So don’t open that second lab door and look inside. Because I can’t let you do that. And security is out for the day so no one can stop you. So don’t do that, because, again, I can’t  _ let  _ you.” PJ grins and leaves out an office door. 

 

 Phil is stunned. This has never happened, ever, no matter how much he’s begged PJ to let him see some of the things he studies. Part of him knows this is a bad thing to do. It’s disrespectful and it’s dangerous. But this is probably going to be his only chance to see something incredible. So, he isn’t going to waste his time pondering the morality of what he’s about to do. Besides, it’s his birthday. 

.

 

 There is a man lying on a metal table in the observation room. He looks like a man, at least. Gender and sex are complicated, and there is a sheet draped over the man’s lower half. He has brown curls and a long body. He’s beautiful. Phil understands why PJ was so excited. This person could be one of their own, aside from a few small differences. 

 

 Phil walks over to the table and sits down on PJ’s stool, just watching the slight rise and fall of the man’s chest. His freckles and moles would make him think of the stars, except that Phil is bored of the stars. He reaches out his hand to the man’s face and traces his jawline ever so lightly with the tip of one finger. The skin there is softer than any he’s ever known. He runs his finger along his eyebrow, his earlobe, his eyelashes. And then the man’s eyelids begin to flutter. Phil draws his hand back, alarmed. He doesn’t want to scare this person. But the man just lies there, his eyes opening slowly, calmly. They stare at each other for a moment before the man’s eyes begin to dart around the room. 

 

 “You’re safe,” Phil says. He knows the man won’t be able to understand him, but the words seem to set him at ease anyway. The man opens his mouth, licks his lips and clears his throat. 

 

 “ **_Who are you?_ ** _ ”  _

 

 It’s like an electric shock to his chest. Phil gasps, leaping from the stool. He doesn’t understand the man’s words, but he knows what’s happening. He doesn’t have to look at his chest to know his soulmark is fading. “Oh, wow. Oh, my god,” He says. The man doesn’t look too alarmed, which makes Phil wonder what exactly they put in his system to keep him sedated. He doesn’t know what to do. He’s overcome- he leans over the man and cradles his face between his hands. “I know you can’t understand this, but I have been waiting for you my whole life.” He feels tears coming, and he steps back to wipe them with the back of his hand. The man sits up with some difficulty, obviously confused and probably feeling delirious. 

 

_ “ _ **_Am I dreaming?_ ** ” 

 

 Phil laughs. He doesn’t understand the man’s words, but they’re beautiful. 

 

.

 

 His name is Daniel, but he prefers to be called Dan. It’s an English name from a planet called Earth, PJ explains when he returns with Phil’s gift (a rare plant from a neighboring planet). PJ has studied Earth from afar for weeks before retrieving any life forms from it, and had recognized the letters that comprised many of their languages as the same symbols on Phil’s chest. When Dan was brought to him, PJ tells him, he had to give Phil the chance. “I really didn’t think it would be him. But I had to let you try.” 

 

.

 

First, Dan is confused. Then, he’s angry. Phil is overcome with guilt, watching Dan realise he’s been taken from everything he knows and everyone he loves. PJ manages to communicate to Dan that he can send him home at any time, and if he wants to go now, he can. But he’s also free to stay and learn and explore for as long as he’d like. He’s safe. Dan stays.

 

.

 

Dan lives in Phil’s guest room. They do everything together. Phil cooks him all his best recipes, and lets him run his hand over the raised bumps on his shoulders and the places where his skin glows. He once raises his shirt to show him the soulmark, but it’s not there anymore. 

 

.

 

 It takes a few weeks before Phil can properly communicate to Dan what he means to him. The concept of soulmates exists on Earth, but it’s vague and fantastical- it’s not something many humans actually believe in. Phil tries to explain the science of it, but gets frustrated when he can’t figure out the right words. Dan reaches out to hold his hands, and smiles with kind eyes. “I understand,” he says. “It’s okay. I understand.” 

 

 

.

 

  When Dan decides to go home, he brings Phil with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed! Kudos, comments and [reblogs](https://floralleigh.tumblr.com/post/178492542851/of-the-stars) are always appreciated! :D


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